As we enter our fourth year of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships I am no less excited than I was back in 2018. Last year was a fantastic season of racing and we eventually saw a dominant display from Japanese racer Takuma Miyazono that saw him become Nations Cup Champion as well as being part of Team Subaru, alongside Mikail Hizal (TUR) and Daniel Solis (USA), who won the Manufacturer Series.

Due to the effect of Covid-19, we are missing the atmosphere of our live World Tours and the opportunity to meet our wonderful competitors directly, but we’re lucky that we can still test new ideas and continue to grow the FIA Gran Turismo Championships even in this online only environment.

We’re excited by the new format for the series this year and, with new developments in our broadcast production integrating new technologies, we are certain that we can show everyone even more exciting racing action.

While we are looking forward to getting back to meeting up with competitors and audiences in person, we feel it is right to keep the Championships purely online in 2021. I wish the best of luck to all of the fantastic competitors who will participate within the competition. 

The FIA Gran Turismo Championships will start on Wednesday, April 21 – so if you want to enter then make sure you sign up in Sports Mode on GT Sport  – you can find the full terms and conditions here. 

Details of the different stages and all of our new broadcasts can be seen below. As a reminder, the Championship comprises a ‘Nations Cup’, where drivers compete for their country, and a ‘Manufacturer Series’, where they compete for one of the manufacturers featured in-game, each has a slightly different structure. For anyone interested, make sure you follow us on our social channels and check out gran-turismo.com to be sure not to miss any of the action and get full details on how to participate, and watch the 2021 Season. No doubt we will see some breath-taking, high-level racing again this year in both the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series.

ONLINE STAGE 1 – runs from April 21 and concludes on June 26. Competitors from around the world will race online over 10 rounds of the Manufacturer Series (taking place on Wednesdays) and 10 rounds of the Nations Cup (on Saturdays).

‘WORLD SERIES’ 1 & 2 – this period will also see the global top 16 Nations Cup and top 12 Manufacturer Series competitors (initially selected from the 2020 World Finals) taking part in two new ‘World Series’ events that will be broadcast on Sunday, June 6, and Sunday, July 11, respectively.

‘WORLD SERIES SHOWDOWN’ – The end of Online Stage 1 gives a chance to its best 16 Nations Cup competitors to challenge for a place in the World Series and World Finals against the 16 elite players who contested the first two World Series events. At the same time, team duties will return for the Manufacturer Series with 12 teams of three racers contesting their ‘Showdown’ with World Finals points at stake. The Manufacturer Series World Series Showdown will be broadcast on Saturday, August 21 and the Nations Cup on Sunday, August

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here

Welcome back! This week the team shares thoughts on the immersive feel of Doom 3: VR Edition, and the perfectly paced co-op variety of It Takes Two. 

Stuff We Talked About

• Oddworld: Soulstorm
• Destruction AllStars
• Virginia
• Superhot
• A Plague Tale: Innocence
• Moss
• Doom 3: VR Edition
• It Takes Two

The Cast

Tim Turi –  Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE

Kristen Zitani – Content Communications Specialist, SIE

Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE

We are excited to announce a new partnership with the NBA 2K League that makes PS5 the official console of the NBA 2K League. Starting this month and into the league’s fourth season tipping off this May, you will see all 23 NBA 2K League teams and 138 players in the league compete on PS5 during games and events.

And the partnership doesn’t stop there! The multiyear deal with the NBA 2K League will also give you, our global community of fans, the opportunity to take part in online fan tournaments hosted by us throughout the year, featuring NBA 2K League‑related prizing. 

We are happy to announce that the first online fan tournament is taking place just next week! Starting now, PS5 players based in the United States can sign up to net a spot in an online Three for All Showdown Qualifier tournament, taking place on Monday, April 5 – Tuesday, April 6*.

The winner of our online qualifier tournament will go on to compete in a 3-on-3 team with influencers Troydan and PoorBoySin in the second annual NBA 2KL Three for All Showdown competition from Friday, April 9 – Saturday, April 10 at 5:00pm Pacific Time / 8:00pm Eastern Time on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels. This is a super exciting opportunity to be a part of the NBA 2KL Three for All Showdown event, which will feature NBA 2K League players, fans, WNBA players, and social media influencers, all competing in NBA 2K21’s “The City” game mode for a share of a $25,000 USD prize pool!

Whilst the PlayStation Three for All Showdown Qualifier online tournament is for PS5 players in the United States only, we have a lot of NBA 2K21 online tournaments coming to PS4 and PS5 very soon which will be open to our community of fans in regions all around the world. We can’t wait to share more on this soon!

You can also expect to see us collaborating with NBA 2K League on an exclusive custom content series that will run during NBA 2K League broadcasts and on the league’s social and digital channels: Twitter (NBA2KLeague), Instagram (nba2kleague), Facebook (NBA 2K League), TikTok (nba2kleague), Twitch (NBA2KLeague), YouTube (NBA 2K League) and NBA2KLeague.com.

Are you excited about our new partnership with NBA 2K League? Let us know in the comments! 

 *PS Plus membership required. Must be 16+ and resident of US. [4/2-4/10]. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. See full rules here.  

Last week, we asked you to focus in on the detailed expressions of various heroes in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. From furiously furrowed brows to smiling faces, here are this week’s expressive highlights: 

Kratos flashes a ferocious face in combat in God of War, shared by GameonFocus. 

Ellie makes funny faces in the mirror in The Last of Us Part II, shared by rahlredd.

Venti from Genshin Impact has sparkling smile, shared by 00ezo.

Aloy gies a curious shrug in this share by NeoFulcrum.

Amicia’s face scrunches with emotion has she hugs her brother Hugo in A Plague Tale: Innocence shared by laviescobar1.

Sora chases butterflies with a delighted grin in this share by TurningtheKey.

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Golden

SUBMIT BY: Wednesday 9 AM PT on April 7

Next week, we’re seeing gold. Whether it’s gleaming treasures or sunlit landscapes, share golden moments in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.  

Want to share more of your epic photo mode moments? U.S. players can enter the Red Bull Capture Point competition* for the chance to win some thrilling prizes. See full details at redbull.com/capturepoint.

*Red Bull Capture Point Official Contest Rules:

It’s no joke, the month of March has come to a close and the Players’ Choice polls are open for you to vote for your favorite new release of the past month! From daring indie darlings to bombastic PS VR adventures, crafty co-ops and everything in between, let us know which release made the biggest impression on you.

We’ll keep the polls open until Sunday night at 11:59pm Pacific, so be sure to cast your vote before then. Then show your favorite release some love in the comments! 

How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation.Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. Soon thereafter, we’ll close the polls, tally your votes, and announce the winner at PlayStation.Blog. PlayStation Store will also showcase some top Players’ Choice winners throughout the year.

What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? In keeping with our long tradition in the Game of the Year Awards, remastered or re-released games won’t qualify. Ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds and remakes like Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will.

How are nominees decided? The PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation Store editorial teams will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. Write-in votes will be accepted.